Nick Jonas on Partying With Taylor Swift and Becoming a Gay Icon
When you look back at your years as a tween idol in the Jonas Brothers, are those fond memories or do they make you cringe?
It’s a good balance of both. It was a lot of fun — I got to perform at the White House five or six times, and I went to spring training with the Dodgers, which was a highlight of my entire life. But there are also things that are embarrassing, like looking back at your middle-school yearbook. Especially the emphasis on our relationships. That can mess with your head. We had a pretty huge female fan base, so we had to make a concerted effort to keep things private and say we didn’t have girlfriends. I feel bad about it now. I probably hurt some people.
Your older brother Joe revealed last year that he smoked weed for the first time with Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato when you were all teenagers. Do you have any stories about getting high with your fellow Disney stars?
Uh, I never smoked weed with any of my fellow Disney stars. I smoked weed elsewhere [laughs]. But I was actually way more guarded back then. I wasn’t partying too hard at 15, which is probably for the best. I’ve loosened up quite a bit since then. My Disney years feel like a long, long time ago.
Do you think you’ll ever reunite with the Jonas Brothers?
I don’t know. My life has changed so much in 12 months that I can’t predict what tomorrow is going to bring, you know? It’s hard to imagine saying “never.” But for this moment in time that I’m in right now, I don’t see that happening.
What’s the biggest difference between your life now and what it was like being famous the first time around?
I think part of the beauty of being a pop phenomenon is that you’re going 1,000 miles per hour, and it’s all happening – and that’s also the hard part about it. It’s very easy to get used to certain things going at that speed, with that frenzy behind it. But it’s not necessarily the foundation for the best, longest-lasting career. This time around, I’m trying to set up a foundation so that I can do what I love for the rest of my life. I see my career as not just music, but as hopefully an entertainer on all mediums, and someone who can have real influence and make great art.
